Telluride
by KSWheels
Summary: After leaving Point Place for the 2nd time following the end of his relationship with Donna, Eric is working as a bartender in Telluride, Colorado where he finds unexpected love with someone from his past. E/J
1. Chapter 1

Telluride

Summary: After leaving Point Place for the 2nd time following the end of his relationship with Donna, Eric is working as a bartender in Telluride, Colorado where he finds unexpected love with someone from his past. E/J

A/N: The plot is shamelessly stolen from a Tim McGraw song. This is not a songfic, so before you go racing for your back button, give it a chance. I haven't written anything that was seen by others for a couple of years, but I got inspired so here goes…

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Chapter 1

Telluride, Colorado – December, 1980

This most certainly was not what Eric pictured, or wanted, from his life. His job was decent, the pay was good. It would pay the bills until a teaching position opened up. Unlike his job, his social life sucked. He had been in Colorado for 3 months and he still didn't really know anyone other than the people who worked at the bar with him, and the regular customers. There was really no one he could talk to. Sometimes he thought about packing up and going back to Point Place, but he couldn't do that. He'd come crawling back for Donna once before. As much as they tried to go back to the way things were, it wasn't the same. While he was teaching in Africa he broke up with her, in a letter, and she moved on to Randy. When Eric came back Randy backed off at first to let Donna figure things out with Eric, but after a few months he was pursuing her again, and Donna was torn between them. Eventually Donna told Eric that she didn't want to look back anymore. She saw a relationship with Randy as a way to move forward. Eric didn't stick around in Point Place for very long after that. He got in his car and drove with no real plan for where he was going, finally stopping at a motel near the bar where he now worked. After a week he called his mom and told her he wouldn't be coming back home. Now his life consisted of work and sleep, and on nights when business was slow at the bar he'd drive himself nuts trying to figure out what went wrong, only to be have his trip down memory lane interrupted by the bell that rang whenever someone came into the bar. Sometimes he'd have his back turned, cleaning or straightening up and the customer would have to get his attention. Never in a million years did he think the voice saying "Hey, can I get a drink?" would be a familiar one, but one night it was. It was a high pitched voice with an impatient, demanding tone that could only belong to one person. Without turning around he disguised his voice as best he could and said "Sure, Jackie."

There was a short pause before she spoke again "How did you know my name? Are you psychic?"

Now that his suspicions were confirmed he decided to have a little fun. "Maybe…Beulah." It was all Eric could do not to bust up laughing right then.

There was another pause before she spoke again. "What's going on? Who the hell are you?"

Much to his surprise she didn't wait for a response before hopping over to the other side of the bar and forcefully spinning him around to face her. When she saw him she looked genuinely stunned. Her mouth moved silently for a few seconds before she found her a voice again. "Eric. What, um…What are you going here?"

"I work here."

"I can see that. I meant, what are you doing in Colorado? How did you get here?"

"Car." Eric responded dumbly, causing Jackie's previously stunned expression to change to minor annoyance. "After Donna dumped me I had to get out of Point Place, so I got in my car and drove." He paused briefly before asking her what she wanted to drink. After getting her drink it was his turn to ask questions. "What are _you _doing here?"

"Skiing with friends."

Eric pretended to look around for her friends before looking back at her quizzically.

"They're back in their hotel rooms making out or whatever. I don't have a boyfriend to make out with, and I was bored so I came here."

"Anyone I know?"  
"No, friends from Chicago."

"Chicago?"

"Yeah. I got a job in Chicago working at a TV station so I left home."

"That's great." He smiled, before suddenly picking up on something she said earlier. "Wait, no boyfriend? I thought you and Fez were…"

"No. Well, we were. Not anymore." Eager to change the subject she decided to ask another question of her own. "Eric, a bar? I thought you were going to be a teacher."

"I was. I am. There are no teaching jobs open at the moment, and I needed to pay the bills, so here I am." After a moment of awkward silence Eric decided to lighten the mood. "So…Chicago. You and Kelso—"

"God, no! He's marrying Brooke."

"Really? Wow. No one told me."

"Yeah, well maybe if you hadn't run off without telling anyone where you were going…"

"Aww, did you miss me? Were you worried?" Eric teased

"I'm just saying, Donna wasn't the only one you left behind." Eric was surprised by the sadness in her voice.

"Look, um…I'm done here. So if you don't have plans do you maybe want to hang out?"

"Wait, you want to hang out with me?"

"Yeah, why not? To be honest I don't really know anyone here. I don't have any friends here. It's nice to see a friend from home."

"A friend from home?"

"Yeah."

"We're friends?"

"Yeah. At least, I thought we were."

"No, no. See, um…I was friends with Donna, and you were her boyfriend. And you were friends with Michael and Steven, and I was their girlfriend. We tolerated each other. That doesn't make us friends."

"Oh. Okay. If you don't want to hang out that's cool. I just thought…"

Jackie suddenly felt like he worst person in the world. He was clearly hurt by her words. She didn't understand why. She honestly thought Eric only put up with her because she dated his friends. She didn't think that they would ever hang out if he wasn't with Donna. But he wasn't with Donna now, and he was asking her to keep him company.

"Wait, let me call my friends and tell them where I'll be so they don't worry. We can hang out, if you want."

Eric brought the phone out from underneath the bar, and waited while Jackie made her call. He tried not to listen to her conversation, but he couldn't help himself. It wasn't hard to figure out what the other person on the line was saying.

"No, it's not a guy. It's Eric…Well, it is a guy but it's not like that. He used to be my friend Donna's boyfriend… I told you, it's not like that. Whatever. BYE!" Jackie slammed the phone down in mock anger. She turned around and noticed Eric watching her with amusement. "My idiot friends think we're going to do it tonight."

"Well, you wouldn't want to disappoint them."

Jackie punched him on the shoulder playfully, telling him to "Shut up."

"Ow. Okay. You ready?"

"Well, that depends, where are we going?"

"I thought we'd go back to my apartment and watch TV, or talk." Jackie didn't try very hard to hide the fact that the plan sounded boring. "Jackie, It's too cold outside to do anything else. Besides, before I left Hyde gave me a small stash, and I don't like to do it alone so I haven't touched it."

She still wasn't very impressed but it sounded better than going back to the hotel and watching her friends make out.

After locking up the bar, Eric and Jackie got in Eric's car and made the short trip back to Eric's apartment. Jackie spent a few minutes catching Eric up on everything that happened with their friends in between the time he left town and she moved to Chicago. After that they tried to find something on TV, finding nothing interesting they decided to make use of Hyde's going away present. Without Hyde, Kelso, and Fez their antics were decidedly tamer than usual. Eric entertained Jackie with stories of drunken morons at the bar, and she made fun of her coworkers at the TV station. Just as those topics began to lose steam Jackie began giggling uncontrollably. Eric was confused, he had no idea what she was laughing about, but he began laughing with her anyway.

"I just thought of something." She finally explained.

"What?"  
"I've kissed all of our friends, except you."

"Except me and Donna, you mean, right?"

"No. Just you."

"Wait, what?"

"It was during a slumber party. We were bored. It was no big deal."

"I disagree, girls kissing is a very big deal."

"Ugh. Shut up, perv."

"Was there tongue?"

"Just forget it."

"No, Jackie, you can't just tell me you kissed a girl, specifically my ex-girlfriend, and then tell me to forget it. I need details. What kind of kiss was it?"

Jackie rolled her eyes before moving in closer to Eric and putting her arms around his neck. Before he realized what was happening she began kissing him, at first hesitantly and them more aggressively. Just when Eric's brain kicked in and he began returning her kisses she pulled away.

"I gotta go, my friends will be worried." She quickly moved towards the door.

"Wait, you're leaving? Just like that?"

Jackie walked back over to him and kissed him again. "Yeah, just like that." She left before he had a chance to say anything else, giggling a barely intelligible goodbye as she closed the door.

"What the hell was that?"

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A/N #2: To all the Jackie/Hyde and Eric/Donna lovers, I'm sorry but there are way too many stories with those pairings and I wanted to do something a little different. I'm not really sure how I feel about this chapter. It got easier to write as I went along, but at the beginning I definitely felt the effects of having not written anything in a long time.

Love it? Hate it? Let me know.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: So very sorry for the insane delay. Writers block is a pain in the ass. I had two pages of this chapter written but erased it after the file sat untouched for almost 2...uh...make that 6 months. Thank you all for leaving your very kind, and much appreciated comments. I hope you enjoy my second attempt at chapter 2. And I must confess that I'm going to correct something that I messed up in chapter 1 in this chapter, dealing with where Jackie is staying.

Chapter 2

Eric was trying to finish up his work as quickly as possible so he could go home and get some sleep, since he hadn't slept much the night before. He didn't even bother to turn around when he heard a knock on the door, choosing instead to simply yell that the bar was closed. Just as he turned his attention back to his work the knock came again. He quickly turned around to repeat his previous statement when he saw Jackie. He quickly went to the door and unlocked it to let her in. There was a lot he wanted to say to her, but he didn't know how so he just made her a drink, and listened to her ramble on about the events of her day. Eventually she ran out of things to talk about and inquired about his day. After talking for a few minutes he stopped suddenly and was silent for an unbearably long time, while Jackie looked at him with an expression of confusion.

"You kissed me." He finally blurted out.

"And you were up all night thinking about it, weren't you?" Jackie teased as her expression changed from confusion to amusement.

"Yes, actually." Eric admitted sheepishly.

Unable to think of a response to his surprising honesty, Jackie sat silent until he spoke again.

"You can't do that, Jackie. You can't just kiss a guy and run away."

"Aw...Did I give you needs?" Jackie asked doing her best impression of Fez. Just as Eric opened his mouth to respond Jackie cringed at the realization of what she'd just asked "Don't answer that."

They talked some more while Eric finished up his work. When it looked like Eric was done with his work Jackie stood up and asked if he had plans. He really wanted to go home and go to sleep but he was also curious where Jackie was going with her question.

"No. Why?"

"Wanna come back to my place?"

"Your hotel?"

"Not exactly. I couldn't stand to be around my friends and their boyfriends anymore so I got a cabin near the hotel."

"Oh." Eric responded blankly, hoping to get more details out of her. Much to his surprise Jackie's tone changed drastically.

"Come on Eric, it'll be fun. You and me, in a cabin, in front of the fireplace." Jackie moved closer to Eric as she spoke in a mixture of flirting and begging.

Caught off guard all Eric could only manage to stutter "O-Okay." as he followed her out, locking the door behind him. Eric moved his car behind the bar before getting in Jackie's rental car and making the short trip to her cabin.

When they arrived Jackie led Eric inside and flipped on the lights, then headed for the fireplace and started making a fire. Eric offered to help but she insisted that she could handle it. Once the fire was going they went and sat on the couch. They made several lame attempts at small talk before Jackie finally decided it was time to get to the point of why she had invited Eric in the first place. She moved over to Eric's side of the couch and pressed her lips to his. Once the mild shock of what was happening wore off he began returning her kisses. As things progressed Eric closed his eyes and began focusing on all of the sensations he was feeling as they made out. Her soft lips, her gentle but skilled tongue, the sweet smell of her perfume...

Eric opened his eyes when he heard a door open. He was overcome with confusion. The room was filled with the unmistakable brightness of daylight. He looked around the room, trying to familiarize himself with his surroundings. He was still on Jackie's couch, wearing the same clothes he had been wearing when he got to the cabin, but now he was laying down, covered with a blanket. Eventually his gaze settled on Jackie, who had just come out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, drying her wet hair. Eric sat up quickly, a little stunned by what he was seeing. Noticing that he was awake, she walked over and greeted him with a light kiss on the lips before grabbing a hair brush off of the table next to the couch he was sitting on and heading back in the direction of the bathroom.

"Hey Jackie?" Eric finally spoke as she reached the bathroom door.

"Yeah?" She turned to face him.

"We didn't...?" He was unsure of how to phrase his question, but she understood.

"No." She answered before going into the bathroom and closing the door behind her. She opened the door and popped her head out a few seconds later with a little half-smile "Not yet."

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A/N #2: I know, I know, it's short but the next chapter will come much faster, I promise. Let me know what you think. I'm a little concerned that I wasn't clear about what happened in Jackie's cabin. I think most of you will understand, and for the rest of you, all will become clear in the next chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thanks for all the positive reviews on chapter 2. To be honest I wasn't very happy with it, but if I made you wait until I was happy with that chapter you'd never see it. I have a clearer idea of what I want to do in this chapter so it should be better. Let me know what you think. By the way, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to do this, but if you want to hear the song that inspired this story, go to Youtube and search for "Tim Mcgraw Telluride" without quotation marks. It contains minor spoilers, my story follows the same basic plot, so if you don't want an idea of what is to come, don't listen to the song yet.

Longest. Authors. Note. EVER. On with the show.

Chapter 3

Jackie's heart as pounding as she began kissing Eric. It took him a few seconds to join in but once he did Jackie finally understood what Donna saw in him. He was a REALLY good kisser. Unfortunately the kissing stopped as quickly as it started. After a few minutes Eric just...stopped. While her lips were still pressed to his Jackie listened to Eric's breathing. It didn't take her long to figure out that he was asleep. He had fallen asleep while making out with her. Jackie broke the kiss and gently lowered Eric down so that he was laying on the couch. In most cases Jackie would've been insulted by what had just happened, but not this time. She had to suppress a giggle as she walked back to the bedroom to get a pillow and blanket for him. After tending to the sleeping guy on her couch Jackie looked at the clock: 12:30 AM. As she headed off to bed Jackie made a mental note to start her dates earlier in the future so that everyone would be able to stay awake.

As soon as Jackie woke up the next morning she grabbed some towels and headed for the bathroom to take a shower. She practically jumped out of her skin when she saw Eric sleeping on the couch as she walked past. The events of the previous night had completely slipped her mind for just a second. As soon as Jackie finished her shower she wrapped a towel around her body and then admired herself in the mirror for a second. Suddenly she remembered that she'd left her hair brush on the table in the living room. She made sure her towel was securely wrapped around her body, grabbed another towel to dry her hair, and went out into the living room. It was at that moment Eric decided to wake up. Jackie silently wished he would go back to sleep so that she would be spared any awkward conversation that was sure to come until after she was properly dressed. She wouldn't be so lucky. Even before she managed to pick up her brush Eric was looking at her. Unable to think of the proper greeting for her best friend's ex-boyfriend who fell asleep while making out, she settled on a small kiss on the lips before turning back toward the bathroom. Just as she reached the door she heard his voice.

"Hey Jackie?"

"Yeah?" The look on Eric's face was a mixture of worry and confusion.

"We didn't...?"

Jackie couldn't help but think it was cute, and sort of sweet that he was worried about that.

"No." She headed into the bathroom, but then decided to mess with his head a little. Opening the door again she added "Not yet."

Eric silently repeated her words with a smile.

Jackie still had the flirty half smile on her face when she came back out into the living room, still wearing only the towel. She quickly headed back toward the bedroom but kept her eyes locked on his as she passed by. Just as she disappeared out of sight Eric said "That's a good look for you."

Jackie felt her face get hot with embarrassment, and was thankful that Eric couldn't see her. When she got into the bedroom she tossed the towel toward the living room.

When Eric saw the towel come flying into the living room he shouted "Does that mean there's a hot naked girl in there?" Encouraged my Jackie's laughter Eric decided to press his luck further. "Can I join you in there?" It was his turn to laugh when his question was met with the sound of the door closing.

When Jackie came back into the living room, this time dressed in proper clothes, she playfully kicked Eric before joining him on the couch.

"What was that for?"

"For falling asleep while we were making out!"

"Yeah, sorry about that. Making out with you definitely wasn't boring, it's just...This crazy girl kissed me and then ran away, so I didn't get much sleep."

"Aw. That's so evil. Who would do that?" Jackie teased. "So um...I'm hot, huh?"

"What?"

"Hot naked girl..."

"Yeah you're all right."

In typical Jackie fashion she informed Eric that she was better than all right, in fact, she was "damn hot."

After confirming that Eric didn't have to work later that night, Jackie called her friends back at the hotel and pretended to be sick, canceling plans to ski with them. Naturally, she denied that her sudden cancellation had anything to do with "the guy from the bar."

After she got off of the phone she rejoined Eric on the couch. They weren't really talking much, just silently flirting and making each other laugh, building toward what they both wanted to be doing, which was making out. Soon Jackie was on top of Eric, kissing him and exploring his body with her hands. Eric was doing the same, but much to Jackie's surprise he wasn't attempting to go any further. He was much different than any other guy she'd ever made out with. He was focused on her, rather than on himself. Eventually they had to come up for air, at which point Jackie's stomach reminded her that she hadn't eaten yet. Still on top of Eric, she broke apart their kissing so she could talk.

"I'm hungry. You want to eat?"

It was at this moment, looking up at Jackie, that Eric noticed her eyes. Suddenly he found himself lost in her big green eyes, so much so that he didn't hear her question until she slapped him on the chest and jolted him back to reality.

"What? Sorry.'

"I said, do you want to eat?" Her tone was a mix of annoyance at having to repeat herself and curiosity over why Eric had suddenly zoned out.

"Yeah, sure."

"What just happened there?"

"When?"

"Just now, you spaced out."

"It was nothing. So are we going to go out or what?"

"No, you are going to go to the restaurant across the street and bring it back here. I told my friends I was sick. If I go out now and they see me they'll know I lied. This is a small town, their hotel isn't very far."

"That's fine Jackie, except I left my car at the bar, and your friends would recognize your rental car."

"Oh my god, you big baby, it's across the street. It won't kill you to walk."

"Fine." Eric sighed in mock exasperation. He instinctively kissed Jackie goodbye, grabbed his coat and left to go get breakfast.

While Jackie's excuse about possibly being caught in a lie by her friends was true, she mostly just wanted to get rid of Eric for 10 minutes so she could process what was happening between them. This is the kind of thing she would've loved to call Donna and over analyze, but she couldn't do that because she was fairly certain that what she was doing with Eric, whatever it was, was a major violation of the girl code, not to mention the best friend code. She didn't have time for that anyway, because soon her thoughts were interrupted by Eric returning with food. They sat down to eat and continued the flirty banter that had been happening all morning. During a quiet period Jackie's curiosity got the better of her and she asked, almost absent mindedly

"Why did you really leave Point Place, anyway?"

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A/N #2: Okay, I'm going to stop there. Fairly light chapter there. Lots of fun stuff. I'm going to keep it that way for now, except for some deeper discussion into their past relationships in the next chapter. Hope you liked it. Let me know.


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